“I want to convey that this show is something new,” Perry said Sunday at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. Perry, a co-writer and executive producer on the series, doesn’t want to use the star power of Courtney Cox or Jennifer Aniston as a “launching pad” for his latest endeavor.

However, he isn’t opposed to calling in a few favors down the road. “Ultimately I think yes,” he said of asking his former co-stars to guest on the show. “In the third season maybe some of them can come in.”

In ‘Mr. Sunshine,’ Perry stars as a selfish sports arena manager who begins to reevaluate his life on his 40th birthday. Perry confessed the character is based largely on himself.

“The reason my character is selfish and has only thought about himself for so long is because I know someone like that,” he said self-referentially.

“I’d like to say this character is me five years ago before any possible enlightenment could come my way: a selfish guy trying to have a better life, and how confused he’d be for being told to just be nice and caring to people.”

What was Perry’s own wake-up call to become a better person? “Just pick up a newspaper or a magazine from 1996,” he joked.

When the show premieres next year, look for Perry to bring certain Chandler Bing-isms to the role. “You want to do a lot of some of the old stuff because that was me too. I don’t think people want to see a character that’s night and day different [from Chandler],” he said. “That’s a character on a show that a lot of people watched.”